The present invention relates, in general, to railway flanges and railway fittings and, more particularly, the present invention relates to a design change in the interface between the railway flange and the swivel.
Railroad flanges have been used for countless years for installing fittings and couplings on air brake piping systems and other railway pneumatic devices. LOKRING(copyright)C fittings have been designed to mate with these standard railway flanges. LOKRING(copyright) is a trademark of Westinghouse Air Brake Company. Unfortunately, the railway flange and the LOKRING(copyright) fittings are sized such that the flange opening is smaller than the body diameter on all sizes of the LOKRING(copyright) fittings. This has forced the manufacture of these components as a two piece weldment as is evident in the prior art drawing in FIG. 1. The two piece weldment is needed to allow for the use of the standard railway flange which has a predetermined profile for a sealing gasket and a well defined flange to swivel interface. In conflict with the opening in the flange the diameter of the body of the LOKRING(copyright) fitting is larger than the opening in the flange. The larger body is required to allow for sufficient bearing area of the assembly tool as it forces the driver (swaging ring) onto the body to secure the fitting to the pipe.
Manufacturing the fitting in two pieces and subsequently welding the assembly is a costly and inefficient operation. It is desirable to manufacture the assembly in one piece and to further eliminate the welding step. However, there is a need to maintain the body diameter and the flange exterior gasket profile so as to ensure that existing gaskets will seal effectively. There is also a need to maintain the interface contact area (i.e. body or swivel to flange interface) since there is considerable vibration energy developed in a typical flange fitting as applied to a railway freight car.
The present invention provides an apparatus for securing a predetermined fitting to a mating surface. Such apparatus comprises a flange member having a predetermined profile and a swivel member connected to the flange member and having a well defined flange to swivel interface wherein the defined flange to swivel interface is conical with respect to an axis through the centerline of the swivel member. The apparatus also includes a driver member engageable with an outer surface of the swivel member adjacent at least a portion of one end thereof for securing the swivel member to one of a tube and a pipe.
In an embodiment of the invention the apparatus further includes a cavity formed in the apparatus between the flange member and the swivel member for receiving an elastomeric gasket.
In another embodiment of the invention there is an apparatus for securing a pipe disposable on a railway vehicle to a mating surface. The apparatus comprises a flange member having a predetermined profile and a swivel member movably engaged with to the flange member and having a defined flange to swivel interface, wherein the defined flange to swivel interface is substantially conical with respect to a longitudinal axis disposed through a centerline of the swivel member. There is a driver member engageable with an outer surface of the swivel member adjacent at least a portion of one end thereof for securing the swivel member to such pipe.
It is, therefore one of the primary objects of the present invention to provide a flange and fitting that will eliminate the welding step.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a flange and swivel that can be manufactured as one piece.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a flange and swivel that has a conical interface between the flange and the swivel.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a railway flange and swivel that can be manufactured at a reasonable cost.
These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent after a full reading of the following detailed description, particularly, when read in conjunction with the attached drawings as described below and the appended claims.